Let me share a story with you …
A few years back, I had decided to cut down a couple of large bushes that were messy and no longer healthy. My son and I piled the branches into several piles and then called it a day. The plan for the following day was to borrow my sister’s truck and trailer – load the branches and take it all to the dump.
Early the next day as we were preparing for our great venture, a friend of my son’s happened to come by. He looked at the huge piles of debris and suggested I hire a friend of his that had a truck made just for this kind of removal. He would load it and take it all away.
I thought it was a brilliant idea so I said … ‘call and ask how much it’ll cost.’
The price tag was $200 – more than I thought my pocketbook could handle at the time, so I said ‘no, we’ll just do it ourselves.’
Those six little words would come back to haunt me throughout the day.
You’ll have to read to the end of this article to find out how the rest of the day unfolded.
In the meantime, let me ask …
Do you attempt to do it all – by yourself?
Do you have difficulty keeping up with everything? The job … the family … the household … the commitments?
How much is YOUR time worth?
If you had to place a dollar value on your time what would it be?
$50 an hour?
$100 an hour?
$500 an hour?
… more?
Imagine throwing that amount down the drain every time you do something that doesn’t measure up to your worth. Ouch!
Many tasks can be outsourced. There is a cost – yes – it’s called cold hard cash. But, what is it costing YOU in energy and time to keep up? You can always replace the cash – you can’t replace the time and energy once it’s been spent.
Quit trying to be a Superhero.
When you attempt to do it all by yourself, you are not working at your optimum level. And you’re not getting as much done as you think you are.
Because you’re exhausted!!
The answer is simple. Hire someone to …
- Clean your house
- Do your books
- Cook some meals and freeze them for you
- Hire an assistant – or a VA (Virtual Assistant)
- Clean up your office – so that you’re not stressed trying to work there
- Uh, take away that pile of stuff for you!
Enough said.
Now for the rest of the story …
We managed to finally get the truck and trailer and start loading when the rain clouds appeared. By the time the debris was loaded, it was a full-on downpour. We were soaked and cold. We went inside to change clothes and warm up before heading to the dump.
When we arrived at the dump and began the slow trek toward the dumpsite, realization dawned on us – the combination of rain, mud and …
how on earth do you describe that smell??
… hit us like a brick!
It was while I was ankle-deep in mud, soaked to the bone, cold, and trying desperately to avoid using my nostrils to breathe that I got it. That $200 seemed like mere pittance at that point. My entire day was spent on this crazy venture. A day I could have spent on numerous activities that would have been far more worthwhile and whose value would have exceeded that $200!
Lessons suck.
For every task that you dislike doing, and saps your time and energy, there is someone out there that’s more than willing to take it off your hands for you.
It’s true. I should know.
Quit trying to do it by yourself. The payoff will far outweigh the cash layout.
Outsource to give you more time … get more done.
